Potter 6 ends the downward spiral for the franchise (HP4 90, HP5 88), being the first to see an increase, and probably beat Potter 5 worldwide even though BOM has it below it.

Are these HP numbers from BOM, though?

Ohh, I see.

It's kind of a shame for Potter in the region. The last three films have barely grossed 50% of what the original had. At least it seems to be stable now though.

According to HR Up made $7 million in Japan! (funny as we talked just about that number here recently).

I assume $50 million will happen then?

One Piece Film Strong World, the 10th One Piece anime film, opened with 1.038 billion yen (about US$11.7 million) this past weekend . By comparison, Ponyo took in 1.025 billion yen (US$11.55 million) during its opening weekend last year. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opened on 844 screens in Japan this year with 990 million yen (US$11.2 million).

One Piece Film Strong World opened on 188 screens throughout Japan. 68 of those screens had sold-out showings throughout the weekend. The film's per-screen average was 5.52 million yen (US$62,200) — the record for a nationwide release in Japan.

On the first day, the film made 553 million yen (US$6.24 million), and it made 485 million yen (US$5.47 million) on the second day. In all, the film was seen 820,000 times. Part of the reason for the huge audiences was the One Piece Volume 0 manga that was given to the first attendees. Toei has decided to add another printing of 1 million copies.

The tenth film? Why'd it suddenly become so massive?

Dec. 12-13th



1. One Piece Film: Strong World TOEI $11,692,830 1 188 $62,196 0 $11,692,830
2. Up Walt Disney Int'l $5,886,910 2 664 $8,866 -16 $17,398,410
3. Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Double & Decade: Movie War2010 TOEI $5,096,420 1 292 $17,453 0 $5,096,420
4. 2012 Sony Int'l $2,091,958 4 609 $3,435 -34 $31,096,767
5. Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legend The Movie Warner Bros Int'l $1,698,375 1 135 $12,581 0 $1,698,375
6. Public Enemies TOWA $1,660,904 1 328 $5,064 0 $1,660,904
7. Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection Toho $1,088,008 1 213 $5,108 0 $1,088,008
8. Christmas Carol, A Walt Disney Int'l $642,258 5 425 $1,511 -29 $16,200,250
9. No More Cry Toho $514,294 5 303 $1,697 -40 $13,737,655
10. Snow Prince Shochiku $354,187 1 234 $1,514 0 $354,187

One Piece Film Strong World, the 10th anime film based on Eiichiro Oda's One Piece pirate manga, opened at #1 on Kogyo Tsushinsha's Japanese box office chart during the December 12-13 weekend. According to Variety and Rentrak Theatrical, it earned US$11,692,830 on 188 screens for an unsually high per-screen average of US$62,196 — the record for a nationwide release in Japan after the passing of fire safety laws. The film's opening weekend box office total is more than what Ponyo or Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince garnered in their first two days in Japanese theaters.

Part of the reason for the huge audiences was the One Piece Volume 0 manga that was given to the first attendees. Toei has decided to add another printing of 1 million copies for the manga. Unlike previous One Piece films, Oda had personally overseen the new film's production.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... mber-12-13

All 56 volumes of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece pirate manga ranked on Oricon's chart of the top 200 manga books for the week of December 7-13 in Japan. Shueisha just published 2.85 million copies of volume 56 alone on December 4 — the largest print run that any Japanese manga has ever had in its first printing.

So far, Shueisha has published over 176 million copies of the books in the series, and 14.7 million of them were sold from November 17, 2008 to November 22, 2009. This made One Piece the top-selling series of 2009. The four top-selling manga books published in 2009 were One Piece volumes 52 to 55. (Volume 56 was not included since it shipped after the survey cutoff date.)

The sales of the manga were boosted this past week by the promotions surrounding the 10th One Piece anime film. Oda personally oversaw One Piece Film Strong World, which opened on December 12. The film earned 1.038 billion yen (about US$11.7 million) this past weekend, which is more than Ponyo or Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince garnered in their first two days in Japanese theaters.

Oda confirmed in an Asahi Shimbun article in November that he had planned to end the series in five years and has had the image of the final chapter established in his mind for a long time. However, creating the episodes that lead to that ending has taken longer than he had anticipated. In the manga's 13th year, he would like to say that he is 9/10ths of the way towards the end, but he acknowledged that he is only halfway there.

Viz Media is planning to ship volumes 24 to 53 in North America between January and June of 2010 — or five volumes per month.

While Studio Ghibli is looking forward to stealing the summer box office with its latest animated feature, it'll have a tough time overcoming its competition. It was recently announced that a sequel to the 2003 film Odoru Daisousasen 2 (Bayside Shakedown 2), will be hitting theaters on July 3rd. The last film in the series was one of the largest grossing movies recent history, taking in roughly 17.5 billion yen.

Release Date: July 19th, 2003 (Japan)
Budget: $8,500,000 (Rough Figure)
Opening Weekend: $10,489,418 (Japan, 408 Theaters)
Attendance: 12,700,000 (Japan)
Total: ¥17,350,000,000 / $164,450,000 (Japan, Rough Figure)



Based on the j-drama of the same name, Odoru Daisousen follows the detectives of a Tokyo police precinct, focusing more on the procedural and political aspects of law enforcement, rather than fast paced action. While it's very much a drama at its core, the series had a fair share of humor--don't worry, it's not like Police Academy. While the series originally aired on Fuji Television back in 1997, it has since remained a cult classic, resulting in several movies, multiple spin-offs and specials.

Ghibli's films typically perform well, but Odoru Daisousasen 3 is currently expected to be the highest grossing film of the summer. There's always the chance that another film could be announced which could theoretically trounce both titles, but that wouldn't necesscarily be a bad thing. Either way, I'm sure it's going to be a good year for Japanese cinema.

Studio Ghibli has officially announced their next film and it’s called Karigurashi no Arrietty (The Borrower Arrietty). The studio, which produces amazing films, will release The Borrower Arrietty next summer. Ghibli World tells us that the film will be an adaptation of the Mary Norton novel, The Borrowers. The original novel tells the story about tiny people who “borrow” things from humans in 1950’s England (you might remember the movie from 1997). However, Studio Ghibli’s take on the story will be set in modern day Tokyo Koganei (home of Studio Ghibli) and will follow the story of 14-year-old Arrietty. This will also be the directorial debut of Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who previously worked as an animator on previous Ghibli films such as Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo, and Spirited Away.

Bayside Shakedown 3 is a legit contender at $120+ million, IMO.

any idea how christmas/new year affect japanese bo.